Both performers on his week's Komodo Dragon Show are said to imbue their music, in some mystical way, with spiritual meaning. What if it sounds like random strumming and empty passagework? More discussion on emotion and meaning in music in the coming weeks.

Set #1 - 8:00am - 9:00am

†1. Suite Sheykh Amiri

24:06
(A set of variations on the Sheykh Amiri melody, referring to an 18th century Kurdish mystic. "It is often sung at the beginning of a religious meeting, its function being to incite the devout to detach themselves from the thoughts and worries of this world, free themselves of all attachments and enter into a meditation on their true origins, the original homeland they've been separated from," meaning, I assume, the Beloved or the Divine.)

†2. Improvisation dans Bâbâ Jalili en quatre suivi de la Suite Zang-e shotori en seconde

21:02

(Several tunes are made to "talk, sing and laugh all at once in the most disconcertingly natural way.")

†3. Suite Âbedini, avec introduction Yâdegâri

12:12

(Music of "deep longing and nostalgia, a sign of the heart-rending feelings suffered because of the separation from the Loved One.")

Set #2 - 9:00am - 10:00am

4. S.C. Eckhardt-Gramatté: Solo Violin Concerto E.57 (1925; rec. Berlin intermittently 14 June-22 Oct. 1934)

S.C. Eckhardt-Gramatté - violin

Odeon, O-6973-76

30:50
(Description TBA.)

†5. Suite de Nakisâ et Barbâd

20:05

(A melody "weighted with nostalgia [and] longing.")

†Tracks 1-3 & 5 (rec. Tehran early 1970s)

Ostad Elahi - tanbur [long-necked lute] & voice, Hajj Amin Elahi - daf [frame drum]

Destinations: L'art du luth oriental tanbur

Le chant du monde, 744 1626.27

Set #3 - 10:00am - 11:00am

6. Suite de Qatâr (rec. 1970)

Ostad Elahi - tanbur
Cascade: L'art du luth oriental tanbûr
Le chant du monde, 2741150
47:26